Django is a full-featured, batteries-included framework best for complex applications with built-in ORM and admin panels, while FastAPI is a modern, lightweight framework optimized for building fast APIs with automatic documentation and async support by default.
Django vs FastAPI — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B
Python web framework emphasizing rapid development, clean code, and batteries-included features with built-in admin.
Modern async-first Python framework for building high-performance APIs
Framework Philosophy. Request Throughput (requests/sec). Built-in Admin Interface. Async Support. Learning Curve (hours to productivity). Maturity & Ecosystem. Security Features Built-in
Choose Django if you're building complex web applications with database-heavy requirements, need an admin interface, or prefer a battle-tested ecosystem with extensive third-party support. Choose FastAPI if you're building modern APIs, need maximum performance with async operations, value developer experience with auto-generated OpenAPI documentation, or are starting a microservices architecture.
Django: 500K packages | FastAPI: 500,000+ (PyPI)
Django: Yes (auto-generated) | FastAPI: N/A
Django: Partial (optional, requires setup) | FastAPI: N/A
Django: Excellent (TensorFlow, PyTorch, scikit-learn) | FastAPI: N/A
Django: 79,400+ stars | FastAPI: 75,000+ stars
Django: 8-12 hours | FastAPI: ~5 minutes
Django: Yes, auto-generated | FastAPI: No, requires build
Django: Partial (3.1+) | FastAPI: Full native support
Django: 13,000+ packages | FastAPI: 2,000+ packages
Django: Django ORM (included) | FastAPI: N/A
Django: Auto-generated from models | FastAPI: N/A
Django: Yes (user model, permissions, groups) | FastAPI: N/A
Django: Yes (Django ORM with migrations) | FastAPI: No (requires external library)
Django: Auto-generated included | FastAPI: N/A
Development Speed (Median Project Timeline)
Django: 450 req/s | FastAPI: ~7,500 req/s
Django: Yes (Django Admin fully featured) | FastAPI: N/A
Django: No (requires external frameworks) | FastAPI: N/A
Request Throughput (req/sec, hello-world)
Django: 77,000+ | FastAPI: ~75,000 stars
Django: Not applicable (Python package) | FastAPI: 2.5M weekly
Django: Yes, with Django-allauth extension | FastAPI: No (requires FastAPI-Users, python-jose)
Django: ~2,500 contributors | FastAPI: N/A
Django: 40-60 hours | FastAPI: 20-30 hours
Django: 70,000+ packages | FastAPI: 8,000+ packages
Django: 16 years (since 2008) | FastAPI: 5 years (since 2018)
Django: Partial (Django 3.1+) | FastAPI: Full (async-first)
Django: Optional (via packages) | FastAPI: Built-in (OpenAPI/Swagger)
Django: 80,000+ stars | FastAPI: 68,000+ stars
Django: Automatic (requires 1-2 lines of code) | FastAPI: No, manual setup required
Django: 120-150ms | FastAPI: 150ms (average)
Django: 3.5M+ tagged questions | FastAPI: N/A
Django: 500-800 lines (average CRUD app) | FastAPI: N/A
Django: NumPy, Pandas, TensorFlow, Keras, Scikit-learn, PyTorch (native) | FastAPI: N/A
Django: 45,000+ annual Django positions | FastAPI: N/A
Django: N/A | FastAPI: Yes, built-in by default
Django: N/A | FastAPI: 22% (Stack Overflow 2024)
Django: N/A | FastAPI: Native (Swagger UI + ReDoc built-in)
Django: N/A | FastAPI: Native (Python type hints)
Django: N/A | FastAPI: Built-in (OpenAPI 3.0)
Django: N/A | FastAPI: Native first-class support
Django: N/A | FastAPI: Automatic (Swagger UI + ReDoc)
Django: N/A | FastAPI: Requires app server (Uvicorn)
Django: N/A | FastAPI: ~30,000 questions
Django: N/A | FastAPI: 3.5 hours (manual setup required)
Django: N/A | FastAPI: ~480,000 packages (PyPI)
Django: N/A | FastAPI: ~1.2M (PyPI: ~2.8M)
Django: N/A | FastAPI: Manual setup required
Django: N/A | FastAPI: Native, default behavior
Django: N/A | FastAPI: 1,200KB (with uvicorn)
Django: N/A | FastAPI: Native async/await with asyncio
Django: N/A | FastAPI: ~2,500 extensions
Django: N/A | FastAPI: High-level API framework (built on Starlette)
Django: N/A | FastAPI: ~15,000-18,000 req/sec
Django: N/A | FastAPI: Pydantic (integrated)
Django: N/A | FastAPI: Built-in with Pydantic
Django: N/A | FastAPI: 500,000+ PyPI packages (Python ecosystem)
Django: N/A | FastAPI: ~12,000 positions
Django: N/A | FastAPI: 6 years (released 2018)
Production Applications (market estimate)
Django: N/A | FastAPI: Yes (Swagger UI + ReDoc automatic)
Django: N/A | FastAPI: Yes (Pydantic built-in)
Django: N/A | FastAPI: No (requires SQLAlchemy, Tortoise-ORM)
Django: N/A | FastAPI: ~350,000 PyPI packages (FastAPI-specific: ~4,000)
Django: N/A | FastAPI: Yes (Swagger/ReDoc)
Django: N/A | FastAPI: ~2.8M (PyPI/month)
Django: N/A | FastAPI: 6 (starlette, pydantic, etc.)
Django: N/A | FastAPI: Native async/await built-in
Production Readiness Without External Server
Django: N/A | FastAPI: Requires ASGI (Uvicorn)
Django: N/A | FastAPI: 2.5M+ weekly downloads
How to choose between Django and FastAPI
Django vs FastAPI — Structured Comparison Data
Machine-readable comparison dataset for Django vs FastAPI. Contains 166 attribute comparisons, 5 FAQ pairs.
Django vs FastAPI — Attribute Category Vocabulary
Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for Django vs FastAPI.
FastAPI is 2.3-2.8x faster, handling 22,000-25,000 requests/second compared to Django's 8,000-12,000 req/s, primarily due to native async support and minimal overhead. However, real-world performance depends on database queries and business logic complexity.
Django added partial async support starting with version 3.1 (released 2020), but it wasn't designed for async-first development. Views and middleware require explicit async keyword, and the ORM still has sync constraints. FastAPI's async support is more comprehensive and natural.
Django's auto-generated admin interface is production-ready for managing database records, user accounts, and permissions without custom code. FastAPI has no built-in admin; you'll need to build one manually, use third-party tools like SQLAdmin, or manage data through external tools.
FastAPI is better suited for microservices due to its lightweight nature, async efficiency, and stateless API design. Django's monolithic structure and tight coupling make it harder to extract individual services, though it can work with proper architecture planning.
Django has more security features out-of-the-box (CSRF protection, SQL injection prevention, password hashing, authentication), making it safer for teams unfamiliar with security. FastAPI requires developers to explicitly add security dependencies like python-jose and passlib, but is not inherently less secure.
How to Choose Between Django and FastAPI
Framework Philosophy: Django has Full-stack monolithic framework, while FastAPI has Lightweight API-first microframework.
Consider: Request Throughput (requests/sec)
Request Throughput (requests/sec): Django has ~8,000-12,000 req/s, while FastAPI has ~22,000-25,000 req/s.
Built-in Admin Interface: Django has Yes, auto-generated admin panel, while FastAPI has No, requires manual implementation.
Async Support: Django has Added in Django 3.1 (limited), while FastAPI has Native, async-first design.
Consider: Learning Curve (hours to productivity)
Learning Curve (hours to productivity): Django has 40-60 hours for proficiency, while FastAPI has 20-30 hours for proficiency.
Maturity & Ecosystem: Django has 16+ years, 70,000+ packages, while FastAPI has 5 years old, 8,000+ packages.
Security Features Built-in: Django has CSRF, SQL injection, XSS protections, while FastAPI has Minimal; relies on dependencies.